Spring-Ford School District, area schools struggle to balance state testing, classroom instruction

ROYERSFORD — Since No Child Left Behind instituted state examinations to gauge progress and dictate school district funding, balancing those tests and classroom instruction is a near-constant battle.

Issues surrounding Spring-Ford’s revamped midterm schedule due to Keystone exams once again highlighted the struggle.

“I feel like we’ve heard from the students, from the teachers, from the employees and we haven’t heard any positive feedback,” said Spring-Ford Area School Board Member Julie Mullin at a Jan. 29 meeting. “That doesn’t mean there isn’t any (positive responses). I don’t see how this midterm schedule, how there was any benefit to instructional time.”

Spring-Ford Area High School’s midterms were over a 10-day period this January, a difference from the past when they all fell over days, according to the high school’s principal, Pat Nugent.

Allyn Roche, the district’s assistant superintendent, said the midterms were adjusted so that the possibility of overloading students with nine full days of testing in would be avoided.

“This was about the time in class,” Roche said.

Due to Keystone exams in algebra, literature and biology in December, five days of school were disrupted.

“We decided to try to gain back some of the classroom schedule and not try to take kids out of the classroom as much,” Nugent said.

By spreading the midterms out over 10 days, Nugent said it allowed classes to go on while students took up to two tests a day.

“As it turned out, it became a little stressful for the kids,” Nugent said.

According to Elizabeth Brady, the Spring-Ford senior serving as the student representative to the school board, students may have been overwhelmed.

“I had four tests with two on material that was going to be on the midterms,” during that the midterm timeframe, she said. “On top of it, as a senior, I’m filling out applications at the same time.”

At one point, Brady, an excellent student by all accounts, was studying until 2 a.m., “which is kind of ridiculous.”

“I don’t blame the teachers,” she said.

According to her, some teachers “crunched” while others backed off their instruction during the midterms period.

“I think you have both extremes,” Mullin said at a meeting Jan. 28. “You have some teachers who took off and didn’t use class time because they didn’t want to overload the kids kowing they were taking mid-terms and other teachers plowed along and (gave) kids presentations and exams during midterms.”

Roche said he’s getting feedback from principals on how things went and that they would take a look at the midterm scores when they came out to judge if any impact was felt by the shift.

“We’re reviewing to see whats best for kids,” Nugent said.

Nugent said it’s hard to win with midterm testing.

“It’s a challenge,” he said.The Keystone exams tested 11th graders this year in subjects some hadn’t taken since 9th grade or earlier. As such, there was some effort to refresh and prepare the students before the test. That factored into the motivation to move back midterms, as well.

This year’s 10th graders are slated to take the Keystones in December 2013 when they’re juniors, meaning “next year is another challenge, as well,” Roche said.

Kevin Pattinson, a school board member in the Phoenixville Area School District, has the unique experience of also being a teacher at Interboro High School in Delaware County.

In separate districts, he deals firsthand with No Child Left Behind testing as a teacher and looks over the big-picture results as a school board member.

“It’s not easy. I’m not a fan (of the exams),” Pattinson said. “I don’t think politicians or political departments should be the ones dictating to districts... ’Here is a test, this is the kind of test you should be taking.’ I think they should sit down with the school district and work through and have a conversation, a dialogue.”

Communication could solve some issues with class time if the districts were given a chance at some input, according to Pattinson.

As the exams stand now, Pattinson said, he’s had to change the look of his literature classes. Most of the books he taught were fictional novels, but with the exams focusing almost entirely on non-fiction, that’s caused Pattinson to re-evaluate and drop some pieces.

Because of testing time, Pattinson said there is a definite effect on the curriculum beside just its focus. Content is lost as well.

“What am I giving up to get them ready for that test?” Pattinson said. “For literature, you might be sacrificing a novel.”

As a school board member, Pattinson said he relies on district administration to direct how to adjust curriculum and procedures regarding testing and its effects on instruction.

Regina Palubinsky is Phoenixville’s assistant superintendent and a driving force in forming curriculum. She said the district’s curriculum is aligned with the state exams, which allows for class time to be less disrupted.

However, Palubinsky emphasized that the district does not solely teach to the test.

“One of the things we’ve been very cognizant of is the fact that the state assessment should be the floor, not the ceiling,” she said.

The date of the state exams “will give us information to align our instruction.”

“The scheduling of the test (in the district) is done in such a way so it minimally affects classroom instruction,” Palubinsky said.

When considering how to set up their schedules, Palubinsky said she and the district’s superintendent, Alan Fegley, meet with a group of students called the Superintendent’s Forum monthly. There, among other issues, students’ feelings on the exams can be gauged.

“We take a lot of information from the students,” she said.

Pattinson’s view is that he and the board would only get involved in the testing operations if there were a problem, such as low test scores.

“Then we can discuss why that is and what might come up would be the way it was administered,” he said. “Were the conditions of the testing optimal?”

Spring-Ford’s administration will continue to look into how their midterms went this year due to the shift.

Before that, though, the district will have to get through testing in May, as students who didn’t pass the Keystone will retake them then.

“We’re going to do this all over again in May,” Nugent said. “(Advance Placement exams) and Keystones share the same window in early May.”

Finals will also have to squeeze in there somewhere, too.

“If you’re a junior in high school you’re taking possibly an SAT, possibly a Keystone, possibly an AP and then have class all the while,” Nugent said.

Despite the heavy load of testing, Nugent indicated that the district is doing its best to be prepared for it.